The Change Management Process: Accomplishing Change and Making it Stick

There are times when an organization must go through serious
transformation. By this we mean the type of game-changing metamorphosis
that requires corporate leaders to devise a new vision which must then
be adopted by staff members and ultimately put into action.
Transformational change is only possible with a legitimate sense of
urgency and effective change management that is orchestrated with a
change management strategy. This article, based on the Method
Frameworks Plan4SM process and adapted from John Kotter’s
8-step change model and book on change management best practices,
“Leading Change” (Harvard Business School Press, 1996), examines methods
for managing corporate change and accomplishing successful outcomes.

The issue is that transformations
are often met with resistance as members of the organization must shift
their way of thinking, learn new skills, and deal with unfamiliar
situations, often ambiguous situations and many other uncomfortable
realities that come along with the change management process.

When it comes to organizational
transformation there are four key factors that determine the success or
failure of the management of change:

How the goal of the process, including the vision for the organization and sense of urgency, is communicated internally.

How the organization uses its power centers to create organizational support. (see the article, “Change Agents: The Power Behind Effective Change Management”).

How the leaders understand and leverage human behavior and staff motivations.

How the transformation is planned.

Managing Change: 8 Key Phases

The following phases are best practice recommendations that can help ensure successful results in change management:

Phase 1: Create a Sense of Urgency

The first step in
successful change management is to clearly and concisely define the
problem statement as the foundation and input into creating the change
management vision. If the executive management team cannot compellingly
articulate the change imperative, then it will be very difficult to
create the future vision and underlying reasons for change that are
required in order to get everyone in the company on board with the
vision. Studies on change management indicate that 75% of a company’s
management team needs to believe that there is a need for change.

In order to convince
employees that change is necessary, the organization's leadership must
develop a sense of urgency around the need for a shift. The urgency
becomes the catalyst for change that is needed for employees to rally
behind. It becomes the "cause". During the 1980s General Electric’s
Chairman, Jack Welch, became highly
influential and equally
controversial in the world of strategic
management. Although
Welch focused on gaining competitive advantage for
his organization, he also
began downsizing and restructuring GE. Welch was a master at creating a
sense of urgency to facilitate change in GE.

The sense of urgency must
be real. Change management is never to be about deception. Effective
change requires an open and honest dialogue between leadership,
management and employees so that each person in the organization
understands the change imperative - whether it is changes in competitive
marketplace conditions or an economic downturn. Let your staff feel
that they are part of the process in helping the change come to
fruition.

Phase 2: Build a Change Management Team

Once the dialogue has
been opened that change is necessary, senior management must work on
developing a leadership team that will help carry out the vision for the
change. In each organization, strong change leaders exist. These agents
of change control power centers within the organization and possess the
capacity to generate and use power or influence in the change process.
Look beyond the traditional hierarchy and build a team from a variety of
departments and roles – ensuring that power center members have been
identified and included.

In forming a "change coalition", start by doing the following:

Identify the true leaders in your organization.

Ask for an emotional commitment from these key people.

Assess your team’s strengths and weaknesses

Ensure that the selected coalition represents a cross-functional team with varying view points.

Work on team building within the coalition.

Develop a Learning program to provide key skills and support for this transformation team.

Once formed, the
transformation coalition needs to gel and work as a team, continuing to
build urgency and momentum around the need for change.

Phase 3: Create a Vision for the Change

To guide the change
process, the change coalition must develop a map for the transformation —
inclusive of a clear vision that spells out your ultimate goal for the
future of the organization. Referring again to Jack Welch's "Six Rules",
the change management team must work diligently to guide the
organization's destiny in the desired direction based on realistic
planning, transparency, strong leadership and action. With the desired
key outcomes of the change program in mind, the vision statement for
change should be crafted.

Spell out the roles of
each key staff member in your vision, and boil down your ultimate
“vision speech” to one or two short sentences. Think of this as the
marketing pitch for the change program. Your vision should reflect the
values and goals you are after, and your staff should understand and be
able to describe the vision. These words should be polished until you
have a vision statement inspiring enough to energize and motivate people
inside and outside your organization.

Phase 4: Communicate the Vision

Once the vision statement
is in place, the real work begins. To truly shape behavior around the
mission, the statement must influence day-to-day behavior, leadership,
and problem solving.

Inevitably, competing
communications within an organization can easily crowd out the goal and
vision. To help keep the message at the forefront, frequently and
powerfully communicate the vision. Talk about it often—using it daily to
guide decisions. A change communication program is advised to function
as “internal marketing”. Most importantly, lead by example. Make sure
the top levels of the organization are following and shaping their
behavior to meet the company’s desired mission.

Phase 5: Remove Obstacles

Change, even when
positive, is difficult for most people. As a leader, it’s important to
understand the Change Curve and all of its associated behaviors,
recognizing the natural barriers to change that exist and planning the
appropriate actions to help remove obstacles that will prevent employees
from achieving the goals set out for them. The Change Curve, referred
to above, is widely used in business and change management programs and
there are many variations and adaptations. It is often attributed to
psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, resulting from her work on personal
transition in grief and bereavement.

Put in a plan to identify barriers, and if necessary, hire and assign change leaders (“change agents”)
who can continuously deliver on your mission. Provide recognition and
incentives for those who are helping to implement the change, and help
those who are struggling to adapt. If necessary, take action to remove
the barriers preventing the process.

Phase 6: Generate Wins

Instituting
change is a process, and it’s easy for an organization to get
discouraged if employees are seeing little benefit early on. It’s
therefore important to break the process down into stages and motivate
employees to reach milestones along the way. The iterative
Prepare-Plan-Transition-Implement-Reward model shown here is an ideal
example of how to break the change process into manageable steps that
allow progress to be shown sooner. Using this approach facilitates
planning and implementing “chunks” of work related to the organization’s
transformations that have purposefully been broken down into a short
time frames with clearly visible results.

To keep momentum
going, look for sure-fire projects (low-hanging fruit) that can be
successfully carried out, and preferably, pick projects that are
inexpensive to implement. Finally, clearly reward those who are meeting
the initial goals and celebrate those successful changes.

Phase 7: Produce More Change

It may be easy to
rest after seeing initial projects and goals being met. Don’t fall into
the trap of taking off the pressure and losing sight of your vision.
Remember that real change is a long process that takes continual effort
and motivation.

To that end,
continuously look for improvements, strive to set new goals, and keep
ideas fresh by bringing in innovative ideas and leaders. Going back to
“Generating Wins”, the process is iterative. The change management team
must continuously reevaluate the program and make modifications to the
strategy and tactics as more information is uncovered.

Phase 8: Make it Stick

Remember that lasting
change is a continuous process; to make change and a new vision part of
an organization’s core, the leadership team must keep the vision
at-hand. New employees need to be trained and shaped around the vision
in order for it to become institutionalized.

To help change stick
and becoming part of an organization’s fabric, talk about progress
often. Recognize success frequently. Publicly recognize those who
contribute so they feel valued. Finally, as key leaders who helped
institute the change move on, create a replacement plan that will keep
their contributions going.

Make change management easier.

Change management is
too often under estimated in its importance and complexity. Careers have
been dedicated to the discipline and volumes have been written on the
subject, yet organizations continue to try going through major
transformation alone and without attempting to leverage change
management best practices. Creating true transformational change is made
easier with a proven process and the help of an experienced management consulting firm.
The outside perspective, tested skill, and process-driven approach of a
consultant can provide necessary support to corporate leaders as they
strive to make the challenge of change succeed.

* * *

For permission to use or reprint any portions of this
copyrighted article, contact Method Frameworks at articles@methodframeworks.com.

About the Author:

Joe Evans is the President and CEO of Method Frameworks, Joe is a published author, frequent speaker and recognized expert in
corporate strategic planning . To contact Method Frameworks about
scheduling Mr. Evans about an upcoming speaking engagement, visit www.methodframeworks.com/business-speaker or email requests to media_relations@methodframeworks.com.

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